Panel approves additional wireless antennas

The city's Planning Commission recently approved three additional antennas within an established wireless system that covers a wide swath of Temecula.

The new poles will help fill in coverage gaps on Pauba Road near the eastern border of the city, Agena Street in the central part of the city near the Rancho California Road post office, and in Meadowview, the rural area northeast of The Promenade mall.

Many of the system's 39 poles, the "nodes" in the system's grid, double as light standards. The system is owned by Crown Castle, a Texas company that leases space on the poles to carriers.

The vote at Wednesday's meeting was unanimous, with Commissioner Pat Kight saying he likes the understated appearance of the system's nodes.

"You have to really look to see them," he said. "I think it's a good alternative to cell towers."

The vast majority of the poles in the system were approved by the commission in 2011 and 2012 during a series of meetings. At most of the meetings, the poles were approved with nary a comment from the public. But there were a few that stirred up opposition, including one of the poles considered Wednesday.

That pole is near the intersection of Agena Street, near the Southern Cross Road intersection.

At the initial public hearing, numerous residents in that neighborhood complained about the radiation that would be emitted from the devices and other health concerns. They told the commission to put the pole at the nearby post office away from homes. Because of the opposition, Crown Castle shelved the application and waited to propose a new location until after the majority of the poles had been installed.

During Wednesday's public hearing, resident Gyula Szotyori said that the new location of the pole, although no longer as close to his home, was still unacceptable.

And he said the company did not provide enough notice to nearby residents.

"The company didn't give us a chance to represent us against this pole," he said.

Stephen Garcia, a Crown Castle representative, said the company looked at numerous locations but couldn't find a similar spot that filled in the coverage gap.

"There is no other solution," he said.

Before Garcia spoke, Szotyori proactively dismissed his comments as "lawyer gibberish." After he spoke, Szotyori, who speaks with an Eastern European accent, said the entire process reminded him of a communist regime.

The city received a letter of opposition to the pole on Pauba Road near the Crowne Hill Drive but the commission dismissed those concerns because the pole will be replacing an existing Southern California Edison pole that is being decommissioned. The commission approved the initial location of that pole back in July 2011 but the location was appealed by a resident.

Crown Castle responded by putting the pole on a nearby plot of county land, which didn't require going before a body such as the Planning Commission. That pole didn't link in with the system, however.

On the Meadowview pole, the city already had approved allowing Crown Castle to put its antennas on an existing wood utility pole. The company later found out that the pole was on a Meadowview HOA property, which could require a vote of the membership to allow the antennas.

Instead of taking that route, Crown Castle proposed putting up a wooden pole without a light fixture on city right-of-way, which was approved.